Outcome trends and safety measures after 30 years of laparoscopic cholecystectomy: a systematic review and pooled data analysis.

BACKGROUND: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC), one of the most commonly performed surgical procedures, remains associated with significant major morbidity including bile leak and bile duct injury (BDI). The effect of changes in practice over time, and of interventions to improve patient safety, on morbidity rates is not well understood. The aim of this review was to describe current incidence rates and trends for BDI and other complications during and after LC, and to identify risk factors and preventative measures associated with morbidity and BDI. METHODS: PubMed, MEDLINE, and Web of Science database searches and data extraction were conducted for studies which reported individual complications and complication rates following laparoscopic cholecystectomy in a representative population. Outcomes data were pooled. Meta-regression analysis was performed to assess factors associated with conversion, morbidity, and BDI rates. RESULTS: One hundred and fifty-one studies reporting outcomes for 505,292 patients were included in the final quantitative synthesis. Overall morbidity, BDI, and mortality rates were 1.6-5.3%, 0.32-0.52%, and 0.08-0.14%, respectively. Reported BDI rates reduced over time (1994-1999: 0.69(0.52-0.84)% versus 2010-2015 0.22(0.02-0.40)%, p = 0.011). Meta-regression analysis suggested higher conversion rates in developed versus developing countries (4.7 vs. 3.4%), though a greater degree of reporting bias was present in these studies, with no other significant associations identified. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, trends suggest a reduction in BDI over time with unchanged morbidity and mortality rates. However, data and reporting are heterogenous. Establishment of international outcomes registries should be considered.

Surgical upgrade rate of breast atypia to malignancy: An academic center's experience and validation of a predictive model.

Atypical ductal hyperplasia (ADH), atypical lobular hyperplasia (ALH), and lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS) are commonly seen on breast core needle biopsy (CNB). Many institutions recommend excision of these lesions to exclude malignancy. A retrospective chart review was performed on patients who had ADH, ALH, or LCIS on breast CNB from 1/1/08 to 12/31/10 who subsequently had surgical excision of the biopsy site. Study objectives included determining upgrade to malignancy at surgical excision, identification of predictors of upgrade, and validation of a recently published predictive model. Clinical and demographic factors, pathology, characteristics of the biopsy procedure and visible residual lesion were recorded. T test and chi-squared test were used to identify predictors. Classification tree was used to predict upgrade. 151 patients had mean age of 53 years. The mean maximum lesion size on imaging was 11 mm. The primary atypia was ADH in 63.6%, ALH in 27.8%, and LCIS in 8.6%. 16.6% of patients had upgrade to malignancy, with 72% DCIS and 28% invasive carcinoma. Risk factors for upgrade included maximum lesion size (P = .002) and radiographic presence of residual lesion (P = .001). A predictive model based on these factors had sensitivity 78%, specificity 80% and AUC = 0.88. Validating a published nomogram with our data produced accuracy figures (AUC = 0.65) within published CI of 0.63-0.82. In CNB specimens containing ADH, ALH, or LCIS, initial lesion size and presence of residual lesion are predictors of upgrade to malignancy. A validated model may be helpful in developing patient management strategies.

Validation of the VBLaST pattern cutting task: a learning curve study.

BACKGROUND: Mastery of laparoscopic skills is essential in surgical practice and requires considerable time and effort to achieve. The Virtual Basic Laparoscopic Skill Trainer (VBLaST-PC©) is a virtual simulator that was developed as a computerized version of the pattern cutting (PC) task in the Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery (FLS) system. To establish convergent validity for the VBLaST-PC©, we assessed trainees' learning curves using the cumulative summation (CUSUM) method and compared them with those on the FLS. METHODS: Twenty-four medical students were randomly assigned to an FLS training group, a VBLaST training group, or a control group. Fifteen training sessions, 30 min in duration per session per day, were conducted over 3 weeks. All subjects completed pretest, posttest, and retention test (2 weeks after posttest) on both the FLS and VBLaST© simulators. Performance data, including time, error, FLS score, learning rate, learning plateau, and CUSUM score, were analyzed. RESULTS: The learning curve for all trained subjects demonstrated increasing performance and a performance plateau. CUSUM analyses showed that five of the seven subjects reached the intermediate proficiency level but none reached the expert proficiency level after 150 practice trials. Performance was significantly improved after simulation training, but only in the assigned simulator. No significant decay of skills after 2 weeks of disuse was observed. Control subjects did not show any learning on the FLS simulator, but improved continually in the VBLaST simulator. CONCLUSIONS: Although VBLaST©- and FLS-trained subjects demonstrated similar learning rates and plateaus, the majority of subjects required more than 150 trials to achieve proficiency. Trained subjects demonstrated improved performance in only the assigned simulator, indicating specificity of training. The virtual simulator may provide better opportunities for learning, especially with limited training exposure.